Piestewa Peak Library

In my third year of undergrad our assignment was to design a satellite library for the city of Phoenix, with the only caveat being that it had to be located somewhere inside the bounds of Piestewa Peak Park. When beginning to think about the project and site, I immediately felt that disturbing the site would be a grave dishonor to the natural beauty of the site. Because my intent was to leave the site as untouched as possible, my chosen location was at the foot of the mountain where parking had already been established. Choosing this location allowed me to achieve two primary things, the first was that it left the site as undisturbed as possible while having the advantage of being able to frame a view of the surrounding landscape. The second was that it allowed the existing parking to remain with an added benefit that it would now be shaded by the library standing directly over it.

Site Map with Existing Parking Marker — The site, as it exists today is virtually untouched save for the road used to access it.

Elevations and Floor Plan-One-Eigth — The shape was inspired and constrained by the desire to frame the views of the surrounding landscape and provide cover and shade to vehicles below.

Interior Scene 1 — The view to the North is framed.

Interior Scene 2 — The views to the East, South, and West have an additional membrane to help against the harsh sun that the city of Phoenix receives during most of the year.

Interior Scene 3 — The South view, while more covered than the North view, still provides a view while protecting the interior space from an overabundance of sunlight.

Library Perspective

The glass façade gives a virtually uninterrupted view of the mountain.